DW1a

            Language, to me, is much more than the words we speak or how we speak them.  When I think about language I consider the tone in which it is said, the message it conveys, posture, facial expressions, and even more factors that influence the response of the receiver of the message.  When thinking of language in this way, it is very easy for me to see a difference in how I use language at school and at home.  To put these differences on display I will talk about a few instances in which language changes with environment.

            Home is a place of comfort for me and that is shown with my language.  When at home I feel no pressure to speak in a certain way and I think that this is a good thing.  I have very different speaking habits than those of my parents but still I feel that I can speak in whatever way I feel most comfortable.  School is different for me, and I think for most students, because it is an environment of judging.  No matter what people say school is all about judgments; grades, clothing, and even speech.

            My speech at home evolved over time because as I said before I speak in different ways than those of my parents.  When I was young I spoke like them but as I got older and was on my own more my speech evolved.  Playing basketball had a large impact on my speech, as odd as that sounds.  During the summer months, when I have the ability to be outside, I like to go to the park in my city and play basketball.  The park was always busy and there were always tons of different people, who spoke in different ways.  This is when I noticed the biggest change in my language because with all of the diversity at the park I was exposed to many people who would use AAE.  I picked up certain habits of AAE, and I can communicate with people better having that exposure because hearing it and speaking it is nothing new.

            Another happening in my life that has affected the way that I speak and my understanding of AAE was when a new family moved next door to me.  They were an African American family and had two boys, one the same age as I was and one of them two years younger.  Soon after they moved in Kenney (the older of the two) and I became best friends.  Similar to the event I spoke of above, this gave me exposure to not only speech habits but also to people who were different than me on the outside but some of the best people I’ve ever met.

            So, with these experiences my language changed, but my school language was not affected.  When speaking in school or writing a piece for school, it is embedded in my brain that I must pay attention to every detail of what is being written/spoken.  My school language has been uniform for my whole life, while my home language has changed with my environment and experiences.  When texting to one of my friends I would never use such “proper” words (depending on what is consider proper I guess) but in school it has become second nature.

IAR "It Bees Dat Way Sometimes"

In the chapter "It Bees Dat Way Sometimes" the author is looking to educate people on the language, style, and tone of Black English. In order to do this the author had to look deep into the language spoken by black Americans every day. The author had to look past just the words being used and focus on the meaning and reasoning behind the word usage.
In order to write this passage the author needed to do extensive research on language, as multiple regions in the United States were referenced. The studies were broad and in depth at the same time. The author had to come up with the definitions of language and style and then inform the audience of them because many different definitions could be used. Also, not only was Black English researched, but White English too, because the author effectively used comparisons to illustrate the differences in the two types of language. The author’s purpose for writing this chapter was to share the idea that fundamental differences in language come from centuries ago, even though language is always subtly changing and evolving. The audience was also to learn the main differences in sentence structure between Black English and White English. The author also showed that different people have different language techniques and people from different areas have different techniques.
The relationship of White English and Black English is shown in the writing along with the relationship of past language techniques to present day speech. The author displays the relation of misunderstandings to sentence structure by comparing White English to Black English. The basic sentence structure is different and therefore misunderstandings can arise when people don’t understand the different structure. The specific examples given in the text are helpful for people who don’t understand certain differences in the word usage. The use of be, for instance, is thoroughly explained through many examples of everyday situations.
The main purpose of the chapter is to stop the misunderstandings between people who grew up speaking a different type of English. Because of the prejudice of language that is still very prevalent today, people need to be educated on the different types of English so that judgments are not unjustly made about people. Another idea that the author is trying to inform the audience of is that language constantly changes. Different terms are used in different times in history. To get these points across to the reader the author used multiple techniques. The most common technique was real life situations and examples. The examples are then compared to the different types of English. Translating a sentence from White English to Black English helps people to see how the different structure affects the meaning of the words. A comic is also involved in an informative way that points out that perspective plays a huge role in everything we think about.
This chapter was effective in educating people about the differences in sentence structure and word usage between Black English and White English. The authors techniques were simple enough for people to understand without losing the necessary information for enlightening the audience on the topic at hand.